Shapps launches consultation on setting standards in social housing

The government has launched a consultation outlining the areas on which it proposes to direct the social housing regulator to set standards.

The areas covered by the consultation – which can be downloaded here – include:

• Tenure reform: the changes will allow social landlords to issue flexible tenancies, subject to conditions, to make better use of existing and future stock. “In implementing these reforms, we will respect the rights of existing secure and assured tenants,” the government said
• Mutual exchange: landlords will be required to enable access to internet-based mutual exchange schemes “to give tenants who want to move the best possible opportunity of finding a match”
• Tenant involvement: landlord accountability to tenants will be strengthened. There will also be support for the ‘Tenant Cashback’ model, where social housing tenants can get involved in commissioning repair and maintenance service for their homes
• Rent: changes will be made to reflect the introduction of the Affordable Rent model
• Quality of accommodation: there will be clarification that providers are expected to maintain their stock at a decent level.

Housing Minister Grant Shapps said the proposed changes contained in the consultation were “a key step in delivering reform and making social housing fairer by striking a sensible balance between the needs of new and existing tenants, and ensuring the support that social housing provides is focussed on the most vulnerable”.

The Minister said he also wanted to see a return to the premise of social housing being a springboard to success. Tenants have a responsibility to use it to achieve their aspirations, he added.

Shapps said: "Up and down the country, families are speaking to their council in the hope of securing a social home as a hand up in life, but all too often they never get a call back. We need reform - real reform that radically overhauls a system that has five million people stuck on its waiting list. So we are introducing a new system of social housing in the most radical reforms for a generation, ensuring those in greatest housing need are given priority.

"This new system will be more flexible, with councils and housing associations able to offer fixed term tenancies that give people the helping hand they need, when they need it. But above all it will be fairer - social landlords will now be able to make decisions that genuinely meet the needs of local people, and the changes will not affect the rights of existing tenants."